Where would our civilization be without the arts?

I am very disheartened about the hysteria to slash and burn the National Endowment for the Arts.

Have the conservative forces understood that by paying taxes, we have civilization? Do those who refuse to pay taxes wish this country to decline into a thoughtless free-for-all? What would life in New York City be without the ARTS? No Broadway, no museums, no centers for creative thinkers? Life here would be grim. No one would come. Kiss our tourism dollars that have sustained the city in this downturn goodbye.

Unlike many businesses on this Island, I do pay my taxes, and happily. And I would be happy to pay even more to keep in place the absolutely vital portals of thoughtful analysis of what is going on in the world.

I don’t care about brainless celebrities (and politicians) with highly paid publicists who clog our airwaves with dreck. The NEA needs to be funded.